


Midair

by justinlovesart



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-25
Updated: 2011-10-25
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:47:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justinlovesart/pseuds/justinlovesart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A ficlet set in S4, during the cancer arc.</p><p>Justin and Daphne are the protagonists, but it is very much a story about Brian and Justin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midair

“Déjà vu,” I said, as I entered the darkening room and noticed Justin lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

“Still dating that exchange student from Quebec?” he replied.

I switched on the lights. “Nah. Just trying to impress you.”

He covered his eyes with his arm, briefly, then rubbed his face before turning towards me. “Hi Daph,” he whispered, as I sat next to him.

“Hi.”

He looked around, seemingly startled, although he’d been clearly awake for a while. “I need to get going.”

“Where?” I asked, already knowing the answer. Knowing that all the talk of ending it, of this being the last fucking time he’d allow Brian to walk all over him, had already been revised. And for the first time I wasn’t so sure how I felt about it.

He looked at me. “I need to pick up some chicken soup,” he said, simply. Then he shrugged.

I nodded and bumped lightly against his shoulder. “Back to the old stalkering ways?”

I wished I could muster as much cheerfulness as I had in the past, but what I really wanted to do was run my hand over his hair that was finally growing back and tell him to stay a little longer; make some popcorn together; watch that silly Beatles movie he used to love.

He touched my head instead, and kissed it lightly. “You smell nice,” he said and pushed himself off the couch.

“A restraining order, Daph” he’d told me, over and over again, the night before. “Restraining order,” he’d repeated, shaking his head in disbelief, checking the bruise Brian had left when he’d thrown him out of the loft. It was fading, but only just, and seeing that had made me look up, seek again the faint scar on his head, almost invisible now to those who didn’t know where to look.

“In front of Cynthia,” he’d added and stared at me. But nothing comforting had come to mind.

And here he was leaving again, braving a cold Pittsburgh night and emotions I had once envied, but that were starting to leave a strain on his face, in his voice.

He went to his room to get his coat. “Take a scarf!” I shouted after him, because early spring could be treacherous.

Once, he’d confessed he felt cold in some of his dreams. “Also the dream where you and Brian were fucking midair?” I’d asked, teasingly.

“Oh, that one.” His tone had changed then, as it did when he remembered things that mattered and required careful consideration. “I never told you how it ended, did I?”

I’d shaken my head.

“We fuck midair, close to the sun, where it’s warm. It’s beautiful. Then, after we’re done, Brian pushes me off and I start falling. I keep falling and falling, and the more I fall the colder it gets.”

Now he was coming out of his room, wrapping the scarf around his neck. I took some comfort in that.

“Are you taking the bus?” I asked.

He nodded. “To the diner, to pick up the soup.” He looked around for his gloves and when he found them, hidden under my hat, he put one inside each pocket. “Then I’ll walk to the loft.”

I bit my lip and walked him to the door. A blast of cold air blew in as he opened it.

“Justin...,” I tried, but stopped immediately.

“This is the last time, Daphne,” he said, his voice firmer than it had ever been. “One last stalking,” he repeated, smiling in that way that, I suddenly realized, I used to take for granted but had now become quite rare.

I don’t know what made me do it, but just before I closed the door behind him I asked: “In that dream, the one where you fuck midair and then Brian pushes you away... while you're falling... do you see what happens to Brian?”

“Sure,” Justin replied, a little surprised that I didn’t know already. “He falls, too.”


End file.
